In the spirit of sharing with the community, I've decided it's time to start my first thread. I need a central place to document my trees' progress. And I figure if I can do that here, I'll have a better opportunity to learn from you all as I go along. My fascination with Bonsai began a long time ago but didn't get going in earnest until late 2020. I feel like it's always been something I thought about from time to time. But in December of last year, I decided I was going to dive in; so, I started reading, watching videos, paying attention to trees, and generally absorbing all the information I could. In early March, I bought my first tree and pretty much haven't stopped buying (and acquiring) trees since--nothing super expensive, mainly nursery stock and some pre-bonsai-type material. By and large, I've not styled much of anything, opting instead to make sure I could keep my trees alive (but also suffering from paralysis analysis, and not really knowing where to begin).
And so, here we are, the latter part of summer, and I've only killed a handful of trees. Even better, the only trees I killed were rescues that had little chance of surviving anyway. So far, I'd call it a success. I like the diversity of my collection and have found that I really enjoy the actual practice of Bonsai (despite deploying very few actual Bonsai techniques to date). Now, as I gear up for the upcoming winter and spring, I want to make sure I have at least a loosely laid plan for all of my trees. I will probably need to re-pot/up-pot nearly everything I have. That's what I will do in this thread. I will start with some current pictures of all of my trees and a brief description. Then I will take a deeper look at each tree in an attempt to formulate those all-important next steps. So, welcome to my garden, thanks for reading. Please feel free to share thoughts, feedback, critiques, funny quips, useful stories, or whatever suits your mood.
Without further ado, here are the stars of the show:
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Below is a (mostly complete) list of what is on the benches and growing in my yard. The list is NOT in any particular order. Over the coming days and weeks, I will be posting details on each tree and my thoughts on its future:
- Green Japanese Maple (from seed, unknown cultivar)
- Soft-touch Holly
- Hibiscus syriacus
- Japanese hornbeam
- Dawn redwood x 2
- Japanese boxwood var. 'green beauty'
- Winged spindle
- Chinese elm var. 'seiju'
- Trident maple
- Box honeysuckle (lonicera nitida) x 3
- European hornbeam
- Chinese elm x 2
- Willow leaf ficus x 5
- Barbados cherry - rooted cuttings x 6 (courtesy of my good friend @JoeR)
- Flowering serissa (also a gift from my friend @JoeR)
- Lemon cypress x 3
- Portulacaria afra x 2
- Red maple
- Calamondin orange
- Grape vine (unknown cultivar)
- Blue star juniper x 2
- Hinoki Cypress var. 'Little John'
- Japanese hemlock var. 'Loowit'
- Blue spruce var. 'baby blue'
- Azalea (Encore Autumn Bonfire)
- Loblolly pine x 2
- Cotoneaster (I think it's horizontalis but I'm not certain)
- Mimosa x 2
- Japanese black pine x 2
- Parson's juniper
Not pictured here:
- Eastern redbud x 2
- Rosemary
- Flowering dogwood x 2
- Red Japanese Maple
- Bald cypress
- Wax myrtle
- Hydrangea tardiva
In the cloche:
- Cotoneaster cuttings
- P. afra cuttings
- Hybiscus syriacus cuttings
- Red maple seedlings x 3
- Pine seedlings x 2 (probably longleaf)
- Water oak seedling (tap root and all)
Thanks for reading. I look forward to sharing my trees with you all. I also look forward to the banter.
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